Feeling nervous before a presentation is perfectly normal. There's a great way to combat it – preparation! If you're well-prepared, you'll deliver your presentation confidently, even if things don't go quite as planned. This blog series will help you prepare for the big day.

1. Tailor-made

If you don't tailor your presentation designs and content to your audience, the entire responsibility for whether it's a good presentation and whether the audience feels engaged rests on your delivery. (A comparable, albeit somewhat exaggerated, example would be a band that manages to address the audience in each city on tour in a specific and personal way.)

Consider holding a thorough Q&A session after your presentation to gather feedback on your audience's satisfaction and whether their needs were met. The more precisely your presentation is tailored to your audience, the greater its potential for impact.

2. Practice speaking

Should you turn up the volume of your voice during your presentation until you sound like a famous tenor? Does a mysterious whisper achieve the best effect? ​​Is an everyday volume sufficient? Actually, you should be able to come across well with your normal speaking voice.

What you should consciously control, however, is the speed of your speech. When you're nervous, you tend to speak faster. The most effective antidote to this is practice, ideally with a stopwatch, a metronome, or a test listener.

3. Practice standing

You're probably already familiar with the power of muscle memory: it allows you to make coffee in the morning before your brain has even fully warmed up. Similarly, constantly practicing presentation skills – standing and pacing while giving a talk – can make this process completely normal and familiar, helping to combat stage fright before public speaking.

4. Practice the presentation.

There's no magic formula that works for all speakers. We recommend approximately seven rehearsals of the entire presentation under conditions similar to a live presentation and in a comparable environment. This means you should deliver the presentation standing up, use your presentation materials and equipment, and time yourself. Recreate the presentation situation as closely as possible to avoid any avoidable mishaps.

5. Mentally rehearse your performance

This training method requires no stopwatch, technical equipment, or notes. Simply sit comfortably before your presentation and mentally rehearse the entire process: where you will stand, how you will prepare your equipment, how you will deliver your presentation, and how you will conclude. This meditative technique can help calm your nerves.

6. Be gentle with your stomach

You are what you eat! Before a performance, avoid foods and drinks that are difficult to digest or irritate the stomach, such as caffeinated or fried foods, alcohol, and sugar-free drinks. All of these foods will further irritate a nervous stomach. Instead, foods and drinks that are filling or soothing are recommended, for example, bananas, rice, toast, applesauce, hot decaffeinated tea, or sweetened ginger.

7. Do some exercise

If you have a few hours to spare before your big event, why not go for a run? Exercise promotes the release of endorphins. This effect can last for several hours after your workout, providing extra energy and confidence. Even if the effects of your run don't last that long, you'll still have done something good for your health and burned off that sandwich you had for breakfast.

8. Use index cards

The majority of your content should be in your notes (and in your head), not on the presentation slides. Therefore, it's advisable to practice presenting using your notes, but only for sections that are complex and heavy on content or numbers.

9. Get yourself a second pair of eyes

Practice your presentation in front of a friend who can give you detailed and honest feedback. Feedback from a third party is an age-old, proven technique. It can help you become aware of and correct unwise habits, gestures, or expressions that you yourself no longer notice.

The next part of this blog series: How to present yourself convincingly on stage.